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Buying furniture and commissioning it are different experiences. When you buy, you choose from what already exists. When you commission, you take part in making something that does not exist yet — designed for one room, built to one set of measurements, finished for one family.
For many clients it is their first time, and the process is unfamiliar. This guide explains what commissioning a bespoke piece generally involves, what you will be asked to decide, and the questions worth asking any maker before you begin.
A good commission starts with questions rather than drawings. Expect to be asked about the room, how it is used, who uses it, the other furniture in it, and what you want the piece to feel like. Bring whatever you have: photographs of the space, floor plans, images of pieces you love, and — just as useful — images of pieces you dislike.
If you have an antique, a family piece or a photograph of something you remember from an old house, bring that too. Many of the most successful commissions begin with a historic form that is then rebuilt for contemporary life.
Precise measurements are essential. For larger pieces and complete rooms, the studio may want to measure the space itself. It is also worth checking the route into the room: doorways, staircases and lifts. A large four-poster or wardrobe needs to be designed so it can be assembled in place if it cannot pass through a door whole.
The design is then developed into drawings showing the form, proportions and key dimensions. This is the stage to take your time. Look at the height of a chair seat against your dining table, the depth of a sofa against how you like to sit, the height of a bed against the bedside tables. Changes are simple on paper and difficult once timber has been cut.
You will usually be asked to decide:
Remember that handmade work carries natural variation: grain differs from board to board, and two pieces from one commission will not be machine-identical. That variation is the evidence of the hand, not a defect.
Once the design and materials are approved, the piece goes into the workshop. This is where the real time is spent: cutting and preparing the timber, joinery, carving, caning, assembly and finishing. The time required depends on the size, the complexity of the carving and the finish, so ask for a realistic timeline at the outset and plan around it rather than hurrying it.
Where possible, ask whether you can visit the workshop during making. Seeing the joinery before the finish goes on is the best reassurance of quality there is.
Large pieces are often delivered in parts and assembled in the room. Confirm who handles delivery and installation, and make sure the room is ready: flooring finished, painting done, and a clear path from the door.
A solid timber piece settles into a new home over its first seasons as it adjusts to the room's humidity. Ask how to care for it, and whether the maker offers maintenance, refinishing or repairs later. For care in a humid climate, see our guide to caring for teak furniture.
A maker who answers these readily and specifically is a maker who is proud of the answers.
Every Temple Town piece is made in the studio's own workshop in Thrissur from responsibly sourced, kiln-dried Indian teak. Nothing is outsourced. Commissions range from a single piece to the complete design and furnishing of a home, and each is guided by the same question: not whether it will last a decade, but whether it will be handed down.
Bespoke furniture is designed and made to order for a specific client and space, with the client choosing dimensions, materials and finish, rather than bought from existing stock.
It depends on the size of the piece, the complexity of carving or caning, and the finish. Ask the maker for a realistic timeline before you commit, and allow time for design approval before making begins.
When it is made from solid timber with proper joinery, a bespoke piece fits its room exactly and can last for generations, which makes it a very different purchase from furniture expected to be replaced.
Yes. A historic form can be rebuilt to contemporary standards of comfort, scale and construction, rather than simply copied.
Temple Town is a furniture maker and interior design studio in Thrissur, Kerala, founded by Meera Pyarelal in 1999, working in the Heirloom Modernism idiom — Indian craft held to the standard of the world's finest furniture, made to be inherited rather than replaced.
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